Tania Aidaroos, former Google executive, returns to lead the Digital Pakistan project

ISLAMABAD – Tania Aidaroos, former CEO of Google search engine, has returned to lead the Digital Pakistan project, nearly four years after she stepped down from the main project due to the dual citizenship issue.

The technology pioneer, who has helped create many of the best apps and platforms, has once again joined the federal government's digitization project as the PML-N-led government has taken an important step towards digital transformation by setting up a high-level committee led by Tania.

Mrs. Aidroos He has been appointed as regulator of Digital Commission of Pakistan, said a notification jointly issued by the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications.

The committee, headed by the Union Minister of State for Information Technology, will compile recommendations on the country's digital infrastructure, ensuring transparency and efficiency in government operations.

Tania Aidroos

During the Imran Khan government, Tania got the key role of leading Pakistan's transformation into a digital society.

Tania Aidaroos received her MBA and MBA from MIT Sloan School of Management and her BA from Brandeis University.

She began working in technology about 15 years ago, aiming to harness the Internet's potential to break down information barriers and transform lives and economies.

She led product and payments management at Google's Next Billion Users (NBU) division, helping developing countries transition to digital payments instead of cash.

She also served as Google's Director of Emerging Markets in South Asia, where she oversaw operations in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka from the headquarters in Singapore.

In 2017, Edros co-founded ClickDiagnostics, a mobile health diagnostics company that aims to connect patients in rural areas with healthcare experts.

Pakistan does a digital revolution to conduct first-ever Digital Pakistan policy roundtables

As long as the dream of Prime Minister Imran Khan:

making digital Pakistan, the IT ministry is planning for holding the Digital Pakistan Policy Roundtables. This is titled Improving Lives through Modern, Reliable and Affordable Digital Services. Furthermore, on Tuesday, the Ministry of data Technology has announced that the roundtables are going to held in the main cities of Pakistan: Karachi, Lahore, and Islamabad. Which is beginning from the coming date: 24th of March, along with the subsequent institutions mentioned below:

VU (Virtual University)
NITB (National Information Technology Board)
P@SHA (Pakistan Software Houses Association
PSEB (Pakistan Software Export Board)
NTC (National Telecommunication Corporation)

If we talk about the key objectives of the conferences, then it is regarding asking the stakeholders from the general private and public Sectors, donor and academia agencies to offer their suggestion on key pillars of the policy:

E-commerce & digital platforms
IT/TeS Development
Human Resource Development
Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Exports, Privacy, and Security
E-governance
ICT Infrastructure
Fintech

These suggestions will definitely result in the creation of a strong digital policy.

Next, Round-table 2021 of Pakistan Digital Policy is providing a chance to look at the parallels between emerging changes and policy pillars staying within the technology space. It also presents and reviews a variety of socio-technical sides, this is stated by Nadeem A. Malik, who is a member of the taskforce of PM for Telecom and IT.

Moreover, the 2021 policy of Digital Pakistan, is going to be introduced and will be supported as well by the digital transformation of Pakistan through probing the credible and affordable digital services for reinforcing the quality the economic and life of the citizens great. In addition, this policy also sets out the Ministry of legislative obligations of IT; including the policy laws, frameworks, and regulations, which will help in establishing the sustainable climate of IT.

In short, the Digital Policy of Pakistan of 2021 roundtable will help us definitely along with the efforts for a prosperous Pakistan, Osman Nasir sated this who is the director of PSEB.

Learn more about Digital Pakistan

PITB – P@SHA sign MoU to promote IT Industry in Pakistan

PITB – P@SHA sign MoU to promote Public-Private partnership by engaging local IT industry in Public Sector Digitalization

As part of the vision articulated by Chairman PITB Azfar Manzoor, PITB is actively working towards promoting Public-Private Partnership. One of the initiatives is PITB’s ‘Partners in Development’ program that aims at supporting the local software industry by engaging them in public sector software development work with special emphasis on digitally powered public services. In this regard, PITB and Pakistan Software Houses Association for IT & ITeS (P@SHA) signed an MoU today at Arfa Software Technology Park to promote collaboration between public and private sectors.

The MoU was signed by Chairman PITB Azfar Manzoor and Chairman P@SHA Barkan Saeed. According to the MoU, both the organizations will support each other as partners in the digitalization drive of the Punjab Government, and explore avenues of potential growth for the IT & IT enabled Services (ITeS) Industries. On this occasion Public-Private Partners Portal was also launched where local IT companies can register and share their ideas on collaborative transformation. PITB’s DG e-Governance Sajid Latif, GM IT Burhan Rasool, Founder & CEO DPL Syed Ahmed, President & CEO of InfoTech Group Naseer Akhtar and other senior officials were also present at the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman PITB Azfar Manzoor said, “Both PITB and P@SHA are focused on collaboration to digitalize the governance ecosystem in Punjab by leveraging and sharing expertise in IT & ITeS. Through Public- Private Partnership, PITB will support the local software industry by engaging them in public sector software development projects”

Chairman P@SHA Barkan Saeed stated, “PITB is playing a vital role in the digitalization of Punjab and in promoting public-private partnership. P@SHA will encourage its members to actively engage with PITB through PITB’s ‘Partners in Development’ initiative. Both PITB and P@SHA will also work towards deliberating policy interventions necessary to foster the IT Industry in Pakistan”.

Local IT Companies and Software houses can register on the following web address. www.partners.pitb.gov.pk

5G technology successfully tested in Pakistan by PTCL Group

Islamabad: The PTCL Group successfully tested 5G technology in a limited environment.

For the first time in Pakistan, the PTCL Group successfully tested 5G technology in a limited environment, and for the first time, remote surgery was demonstrated. Special guests on the occasion included Federal Minister for IT Syed Aminul Haq, Federal Secretary IT Shoaib Siddiqui, Chairman PTA Major General (retd) Amir Azeem Bajwa and UAE Ambassador Hamad Obaid Ibrahimi Al-Zubai.

Participants were briefed on 5G technology, while reviewing remote surgery, cloud gaming and 5G technology applications.

Speaking on the occasion, UAE Ambassador to Pakistan Hamad Obaid Ibrahimi said that PTCL’s experience of 5G technology in Pakistan is welcome. UAE is the first country in the Arab region to experiment with 5G technology, while the 5th most successful country in the world to complete a mission to Mars.

The UAE Ambassador said that there are investment opportunities in science and technology in Pakistan and the UAE, and the leaders of the both countries agreed to increase cooperation in the field of technology which is good for the future of two countries and generations. We are taking steps to create economic opportunities as well.

IT Secretary Shoaib Siddiqui said that we are committed to the vision of Digital Pakistan, PTCL Group’s successful 5G experience is an important step, 5G technology will open new avenues in many fields.

How Systems Ltd is leading the tech wave in Pakistan

Every now and then, one sees the policymakers or leading industry people talk about the potential of digital and how Pakistan needs to leverage that. Comparisons are offered with respect to regional countries like the Philippines and India and how they have boosted their IT exports.

But how can that be when there is no proper infrastructure or robust capital markets? Just a cursory glance at the technology and communication sector on the Pakistan Stock Exchange gives a fairly good idea: the sector represents a little over one per cent of the overall market capitalisation.

However, ever since the tech wave triggered by Covid-19, Pakistani tech stocks also followed the global trend and rallied by over 27pc in 2020 compared to a 4.61pc increase in the KSE-100 index. Leading that tide was Systems Ltd, one of the oldest IT services export companies in the country that listed on the bourse in 2015.

During the last year, it was the best scrip-wise performer on the PSX. It posted phenomenal gains of 273.6pc as the share price hit Rs468.63 on Dec 31, 2020. While the company had been consistently recording net profit CAGR of over 30pc since 2014, it was only the past 12 months when it truly grabbed the attention of investors. One obviously wonders then: what has changed?

“There was an internal momentum as a group along with growth consistency, and after we crossed a threshold level, the market responded back,” says Systems Ltd Chief Operating Officer Asif Akram, who joined the tech company in July after over 20 years at IBM where he last led the global business services.

“Then obviously Covid-19 also impacted us. Lastly, Pakistani tech companies have remained undervalued and thus offer a good value for money,” he adds. There is truth to his statement. In a Nov 27 report, KASB Research stated: “The average PE multiples for IT services companies in India and Brazil are around 38x 2021 PE — 90pc higher than the multiple we are assigning for valuing the company.” In comparison, Systems Ltd hovers around 20x of trailing earnings.

In 2019, Systems Ltd was named the largest IT exporter from Pakistan though the overall proceeds are too small as proceeds from “telecommunication, computer and information services” stood at only $1.44 billion in 2019-20. Time and again, ambitious targets are set but how can this be really changed?

“For starters, we will need the government to become our marketing agency globally,” says Mr Akram. Another area that requires work, he says, is ending the setting up of competing bodies in the public-sector technology space that perform the same functions. Basically, think of bodies like Digital Pakistan, IT Ministry or even the telecom authority, which often pursue the same goals in parallel but end up creating more silos for the industry.

Finally, the COO reiterates what everyone in the industry also has been saying for a while: there is a lack of talent. “We need more supply of engineers, computer scientists.” Currently, the few top schools produce around 5,000 computer science graduates a year combined while the industry needs no less than 20,000-25,000 of such kids.

And that’s for the baseline scenario. In order to reach a better growth rate (100-200pc) instead of being content with 30pc that’s in some part due to the low-base effect, that recurring supply will have to be in hundreds of thousands.

But for a moment, let’s really put aside our obsession with exports and focus on the local market. With demographics like these, there must be something in it too, right? If we look at Systems Ltd, around 18pc of its top line comes from Pakistan, which clocked in at Rs1.37bn in 2019.

So can we expect a shift in geographical focus from the management? “That amount will increase obviously as we are growing at over 30pc annually but the share is going to remain similar,” Mr Akram says.

In the end, the question is even if the IT exports get to a respectable level, what are going to be the spill-over effects for the local economy? Or could it be a repeat of other sectors where a sizable chunk of the foreign exchange finds its way into the real estate amnesties?

“If we look at what’s happened in the regional countries, such as India or the Philippines, the spill-over effects are huge. A lot of that supply will also be entering the local market services and that will push digitisation in the domestic economy,” he says.

Published in Dawn

Raast: Pakistan’s first instant payment system

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday launched the country’s first instant payment system—Raast—to enable end-to-end digital payments among individuals, businesses and government entities instantaneously.

Addressing the ceremony, the Prime Minister termed the launch a major step forward by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) towards “Digital Pakistan”, adding it would help include the low income groups and make them part of the mainstream economy. He was optimist that it would go a long way in fighting poverty, particularly in rural areas.

Raast is part of Prime Minister Khan’s “Digital Pakistan” vision to include poor segments of society in formal economy. The faster payment system will be used not only to settle small-value retail payments in real time but will also provide cheap and universal access to all players in the financial industry, including banks and fin-techs.

Khan said the instant payment system would not only document the economy, but would also generate more taxes to help build the country.He regretted that only two million people in the country of 220 million used to pay taxes, which was not enough to build hospitals and schools, and provide other basic facilities of life to the common man. Only 3,000 of the tax payers paid 70 per cent of the tax, he added.

The Prime Minister said foreign remittances had been constantly on the rise for the past five months, and had helped stabilise the rupee. After a gap of 17 years, the country’s current account had gone into surplus, lowering pressure on the rupee and playing a key role in strengthening the national economy, he added.

Khan said with increase in revenue collection, the government would create extra space for spending on the human development—education, health and clean drinking water.

He said Pakistan was among the top countries with the highest growth rate in the region, but today it was left behind. He hoped a move towards “Digital Pakistan” would help put the country back on track.

He said the people in Pakistan were used to cash economy, however, now it was time to move forward, adding the programme would help give a boost to the Ehsaas Programme, particularly its mobile wallet, and extend its reach to the women in rural areas.

Khan said his government was working for the empowerment of rural womenfolk by including them in various economic activities.He extended gratitude to Queen Maxima of the Netherlands as well as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank for the launch of the programme.

Queen Maxima appreciated Pakistan on the launch of the instant payment system as well as for effective strategy to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, and the Ehsaas Programme for women empowerment.

Speaking on the occasion, SBP Governor Reza Baqir said the government employees and pensioners would be able to get payment of salaries and pensions in seconds. Baqir said it would also help curb corrupt practices and provide simple, secure and transparent transactions.

He said under the Prime Minister’s directions, the Roshan Pakistan system had met with success, adding the banks were also extending support to the people, who desired to take loans for building homes.

According to the data available with the SBP, digital payments account for only 0.2 per cent of Pakistan’s 100 billion transactions today, whereas the share of digital transactions in the peer countries ranges from 1.5 per cent to 7 per cent.

Raast is designed to operate at a cost recovery model to make digital payments affordable to end users of all socio-economic backgrounds. It will allow all financial institutions to seamlessly connect to each other via a single link to the central infrastructure, making digital payments accessible across any channel to customers of any financial institution.

Raast will also introduce more secure payment types to ensure that each transaction is authorised by the payer, and offer enhanced data protection and fraud detection services.

Published on The News

Telenor’s Plan of Action for a Digital Pakistan

Telenor has given a report named “Realizing Digital Pakistan” which asks the government

Reduce restrictive legislation or heavy taxation on sector
Reduce or eliminate device and data taxes
Develop data centers to support cloud computing
More mentoring and funding for budding entrepreneurs and technology developers for achieving the dream of digitizing Pakistan effectively.

Digital connectivity indicators can be achieved like Malaysia by 2020 by Pakistan but would have to meet prior actions including:

Use universal services fund (USF) to strengthen fibre backbone
Sign world Trade organization (WTO) information technologies agreement
Reduce all activation and service taxes by 25% every year from 2016 to 2020.

The report explained the potential of the country to adopt digital solutions was prepared by the Telenor Group with consultation and collaboration from TechPolis. It shows a possible roadmap which demonstrates how Pakistan can steer digital enablement throughout the country in the next five years.

According to the report, in the coming five years or less, digital connectivity indicators and be attained similar to Malaysia. Five standing points have been made for bringing a better future for the Pakistani people through more usage of digital technologies.

There were five targets set for arriving at the much desired result which are:

TARGET 1: Connect all schools and hospitals to broadband Internet access, and provide all farmers with mobile access and apps

TARGET 2: Triple the 2015 total value of e-Commerce by 2020

TARGET 3: Increase transparency and access to government budgets, policies and services

TARGET 4: Pakistan to establish next-generation iHub technology incubators to resolve local challenges by leveraging technology

TARGET 5: Pakistan to achieve digital connectivity indicators similar to Malaysia by 2020

Tore Johnsen, SVP Telenor Group & Chairman Telenor said:

Pakistan has an immense potential of piloting a sustainable digital turnaround. As shown in the report, this is achieved by embracing innovative digital solutions in areas such as education, health and governance.

With the ambition of delivering Internet for All, Telenor Group strives to be a long-term partner in realizing a Digital Pakistan, together with the government, the private sector, academia and civil society.

The report also contributes to the vision laid out by the Planning Ministry in their document “Pakistan 2025 – One Nation, One Vision.”

Anusha Rahman, Minister of State for IT & Telecom appreciated the efforts by the Pakistan Telenor in seeing the digital competence in Pakistan and its commitment to development of a digital innovation ecosystem in the country. She said:

The comprehensive report launched by Telenor Pakistan reflects how the country proceeds when it comes to utilizing digital technology in various walks of life, and the immense potential it carries for securing a better future for its people.

Telenor Pakistan’s pioneering initiatives towards expanding the overall internet ecosystem in the country including the launch of Pakistan’s first secure online payment solution Easypay by Easypaisa among others were much appreciated by the Minister.

Dr. Ismail Shah, Chairman PTA, said the country is now embracing digital technology as a powerful tool that is not just a means of communication, but a life-changing catalyst.

Along with other cellular operators, Telenor Pakistan has played an important role in making digital technology accessible to the people of Pakistan.

I hope, that the company continues its pursuit of a digital Pakistan where common people have access to better healthcare, education and governance at their fingertips.

Michael P. Foley, CEO, Telenor Pakistan, said Pakistan has a overabundance of digital opportunities and we, at Telenor, envision a future where those opportunities can be utilized to enable widespread digitalization.

With the launch of this report, we are putting countrywide digital access at the center and attaching utmost priority to offering cutting-edge technological solutions to facilitate digital connectivity.

Going forward, Telenor Pakistan aims to play a pivotal role in government’s efforts to promote e-exclusivity for all to foster socio-economic transformation of Pakistan.

The report was introduced by Ricardo Tavares, CEO TechPolis, said Pakistan can leverage the expansion of broadband access to reform public services and the economy and unleash a new era of job creation, quality-of-life improvement and economic growth.

The country can utilize its ample repertoire of technological talent and innovative solutions to revolutionize public services in the domains of education, healthcare, and agricultural assistance.

This report presents a comprehensive view on how Pakistan can truly usher in an era of innovation and progress that can improve the lives of ordinary people. We are immensely pleased to have collaborated with Telenor Group on this report.

For the achieving of digital Pakistan, tight coordination among the private sector, academia, civil society and government is very much required. All together contribute to supporting Pakistan’s move to the digital economy. Streamlining investments from private sectors, government policies and regulations, academia how to and civil society participation for digitalization for everyone’s advantage is a tall order Pakistan will face in reaching its Vision 2025.

For improving the health sector, the urban hospitals and the rural hospitals and clinics must be connected through Internet broadband. Focus will be given to e-Health, e-Education, and e-Agriculture. Mobile Health will help rural people to connect with the state-of-the-art equipment and services in city hospitals. E-Education will provide quality education where there is a lack of teachers and E-Agriculture will give farmers information that helps them improve the quality of their work.

Aligning government policies and regulations, private investment, academic know-how and civil society activism for digitalization to benefit all, is the biggest challenge Pakistan faces in achieving its Vision 2025

USF funds will be a means to guarantee the Internet connectivity among rural and urban areas. Also public and private sectors coming together will be encouraged to develop initial startups on e-Health, e-Agriculture and e-Education.

The Business to Customer (B2C) e-Commerce in Pakistan shows a mine of potential. The report wants to steer clear of restrictive legislation and taxation for letting eServices grow and creating trust in online services’ security. Success of the freelancers, and the ability of Pakistani IT workers inning international awards and qualified, English-speaking workforce display a latency to increase software exports and outsourcing.

Encouraging mobile operators to influence mobile identity with bio-metric identification for authentication of all e-commerce transactions, an e-procurement platform will be looked into for government acquirement and improved trade diplomacy will be given rise to.

E-governance will be encouraged for the promotion of accountability and transparency of the government. Reducing the gap between public’s demand for government services and availability is the principal aim. A central portal for the government which gives access to all the agencies, apps and facilitation of access to the data to increase app development is looked for. This will give the society to monitor government’s performance at different levels.

Entrepreneurship has seen a good growth in Pakistan in the last years. By setting up technology incubators and supporting entrepreneurs with initial funding this sector’s growth can be increased where the public and private sector partnerships will come into picture.

Facilities can be provided by the government, operators, technology vendors and academia all working together, greenfield funding and general mentoring for budding entrepreneurs and technology developers with government agencies and companies posing challenges.

An iHub is to be set up in Islamabad in the new Technology Park which will see the partnerships between operators and technology suppliers. It is also an aim to spread the “Islamabad Experience” to other cities.